This summer, scientists from ACBK (BirdLife in Kazakhstan) have been monitoring Sociable Lapwings again at their main study site in central Kazakhstan for the seventh year of a long term research project supported by RSPB, BirdLife International, Swarovski Optik and The UK Governments’ Darwin Initiative.

An important step for the future conservation of Sociable Lapwing will be made later today in La Rochelle, France, when the new International Species Action Plan for its conservation is presented for adoption at the Africa Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) Meeting of Parties that is taking place there this week.

In addition to the eyewitness reports we’ve received confirming Sociable Lapwing migration is now well underway; Abaj, Dina and Dana, three of the four birds we are satellite-tracking this autumn, have also begun their post-breeding migrations.

Delegates attending the inaugural meeting of the Sociable Lapwing International Working Group in Syria, last weekend, received the welcome news that Swarovski Optik will be providing further funding to help their international conservation action.

Conservation scientists and government officials from fourteen countries spanning three continents are meeting in Syria today to plan collaborative conservation action that aims to prevent the extinction of the Critically Endangered Sociable Lapwing.

Syrian conservationists and RSPB staff conducting surveys in Syria this week, were surprised to discover Sociable Lapwings present in the country and apparently already on the return leg from their wintering grounds.